Friday, February 4, 2011

An Afternoon at Portage la Prairie, 1984

CN and CP lines through Portage la Prairie, Manitoba were alive with trains on a partly overcast, very humid May 31, 1984. An enjoyable morning was spent photographing grain elevators at Burnside, Rignold, MacDonald, Westbourne and Longburn. A slow-moving CN eastbound along the Trans-Canada Highway east of Bloom was pulled by 9587, with 40-foot welded-rail cars and lumber in tow(above). Returning to Portage, I paced another CN eastbound into Portage then jumped out at the east end overpass of the Portage bypass. Unexpectedly, another CN freight westbound with 3 SD's was approaching on the north track of the Rivers Sub: At 1150, 5100-5023-5168 powered the westbound across the prairie. Five minutes later, the eastbound appeared with still-black 5056 and 5163. The Fort la Reine Museum is visible above 5056. A variety of cars are in the consist, including Port of Tillamook boxcars 114 and 168 and caboose 79784.

After a hearty lunch, I tried to find some shade west of the station. The next train was a CP westbound at 1440 that had stopped to lift a cut of grain cars for Franklin, on CP's Minnedosa Sub. 5584-5793 and Angus Shops van 434319 "met" an eastbound CN freight just west of my location, as 5290-5360 smoked it up entering town. Their train included TGIX tank cars 592, 812, 776 and caboose 79588. CP's mainlines, siding, switching lead and CP Express track are visible. CN is loading grain on their spur behind Manitoba Pool's Portage 'B' elevator: At 1452, VIA's Canadian was on time, pulling its 12 cars past a set-out CN outfit train. Yes, there is track under those work cars, and a track mid-foreground to the United Grain Growers elevator at right, hidden in that sea of grass. VIA No 1's consist was: 6557-6612-6606-601-5622-3202-501-5738-Naiscoot River-Cameron Manor-Laird Manor-1364-Monck Manor-Chateau Richelieu-Revelstoke Park.

An hour-long lull meant that all there was to photograph was CN 53014, a nearby air dump car. Used to carry a clamshell bucket and other crane-related equipment, this car features an interesting array of air hoses:

Action resumed at 1540, with 9541-9566 lifting a westbound out of Portage up the Gladstone Sub, including CN boxcar 427354 with roof hatches, and caboose 79826. Little did I know I'd find myself in the cab of 9566 a few days later, watching VIA's Panorama speed by.

VIA No 2 slid into the station on the north track, with passengers gingerly detraining around 5107, seen backing up onto its train left in the yard. The head-end trainman is keeping an eye out along the platform, after setting out a flatcar for the outfit train. No 2's consist: 6501-6607-607-104-3240-514-5746-Deep River-Elgin Manor-Bell Manor-1338-Franklin Manor-Chateau Laval-Laurentide Park.

Jordan spreader CN 50937 looks ready to pull this train westward. 5107 has backed into the yard, and a crew does some rail rehab. Beyond them, a CN flanger, interchange, and CP's yard are visible in the distance:

A 105-car grain eastbound behind 9606-5205-5209 slipped by at 1650, and fifteen minutes later, it's another eastbound, off the Gladstone Sub. Flexicoil truck-equipped 4206-5560-4109 do the honours on the last train of the afternoon. CNWX 100072, an original brown & yellow government grain covered hopper is on the train, as is caboose 79233.

10 comments:

Wonderful, a truly wonderful post for sure! These are the posts the I enjoy the most! The SD40 generation seems to have taken hold of this era. Nice to see a GP38-2W in the mix too, and boy, is it ever mixed up!

Is that a flatcar loaded with farm equipment 8 cars down on that CP train? Those seem very abundant in the mid 1980s at Portage.

No CN F-units this time. Were they more or less a thing of the past by this point?

Massey Ferguson combines between bulkheads? Thats bizzare. Deffinatley something I would like to model.That may be what we are seeing here:http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=156642&nseq=10It's even taken right in Portage, too! In 1983.

I figured the Fs were still about, CN did run them until 1989.Looking forward to the post about the black widows units. They fascinate me, if you haven`t noticed.

Hi Eric;What a timely post! I'm in the midst of finalizing my layout's track plan that will include PLaP - focusing on the CP side with the CN as just the diamonds. Would you happen to have a sketch of the CP's track arrangement through town? I can only figure so much from photos and what I remember.

As to the 'Black Widow' moniker for the CN Noodle units, beware of the legions of Espee fans and their Black Widow F's, Geeps, SDs amongst others...

Ian, thanks very much for your comments. I can sketch a CP trackage diagram for you. I remember sketching a few times sitting out at West Tower waiting for the trains to roll by.

Yes, I realize there are potential dangers with Trackside Treasure's readers who admire the SP. (Are there many such people reading this, I wonder?) Though until I hear a better moniker, I'm going to stick with 'Black Widow'. Hopefully they will see the (Day)light, and let me ride off into the Sunset.Eric

ETU (Excellent Train URL's)

Rather Sketchy Profile

Eric Gagnon was born in Montreal, Quebec and has lived in Kingston, Ontario most of his life. Much time was spent trackside when not in school, college or practising as a medical laboratory technologist. Married with two children, Eric is also an HO-scale modeller, musician, avid reader and blogger, having launched his Canadian railfan blog Trackside Treasure in 2008. Eric's first book Trackside with VIA:The First 35 Years, published in 2011, was followed by two more in 2012: Trackside with VIA:Cross-Canada Compendium and Consist Companion. In 2017, Eric published his fourth book, Trackside with VIA - Research & Recollections. Eric's books can be found in museum gift shops, hobby shops and in the hands of VIA Rail enthusiasts across Canada, the United States and worldwide.

VIA 1970's-1980's Recordings on youtube by E-series-8-4-4

A Word about Attribution

Text is written by me unless shown quoted or otherwise attributed. Photos are taken by me unless attributed, linked to, or used with permission by the photographer. Trackside Treasure is ethically-sourced.

Waiting for VIA No 2

Winnipeg, 1984

Production! Production!

Applying a Tank Track, CPR Angus Shops

The Latest from Randy O'Brien. Thanks, Randy!

Keep Calm - from Randy O'Brien

My Second VIA Rail book

CLC ad undated

Doug Wright's immortal FPA4 going like stink!

I've Got a Fee-vah!

Boarding No 2 in June, 1982

Vestibule View

Comment allez-vous?

Do you comment? I thrive on your comments. The good news is, anyone can comment - but if you choose Anonymous, please leave a name at the end of your post. Word verification is in use, since spammers like popular blogs. To comment, simply click on the word 'comments' in any post footer, enter your comment, then select Comment as, then Publish. It's relatively easy! If you prefer, email me - my email address is mile179kingstonATyahooDOTca.

Header Photos

I have a habitually short attention span for header photos - usually the photo is something I've seen that catches my eye, and I trust it'll catch yours, too. I just can't keep the same photo up there for more than a few days' run. Whenever I ask the photographer for permission, appropriate credit is always given. Either way, I'll provide more detail whenever I can in the welcome message that follows the photo. If I can't, I'll make something up.